Family Chow Hall

You know what I’m talking about - Bagels like the ones you can buy in the Bakery Department of your grocery store or, better yet, from a bread place like Panera. Mmm… Mmm… my personal favorite is the Asiago Cheese Bagel. When you toast one of them up and slap a thick layer of cream cheese on it, there couldn’t be anything better for breakfast.

Of course, bakery bagels are a treat for me — not something to be enjoyed regularly. If we indulge ourselves constantly, then we get accustomed to it and need higher degrees of indulgence just to enjoy it. Less is more. (I’ve tried to explain this concept to my kids often, they think I’m just against fun.) I think that pampering yourself occasionally is just fine, but as a constant part of your life it’s not fulfilling at all.

So — to get back to the bagels — I’m learning to make bagels at home because my kids absolutely adore them and I refuse to pay bakery prices for something that only costs me pennies to make at home. (basically flour and water, right?) As it turns out, when you buy bagels, you are paying for the labor. They are a bit of work. Not hard, really, just somewhat time-consuming. However, you can make a really delicious bagel at home. There’s no big secret or fancy machine that you need to make them. Oh, sure, mine don’t turn out perfectly smooth and uniformly shaped, but they taste darn good.

Below is my recipe for cheddar cheese bagels. You can use the same recipe with Asiago cheese, or dried blueberries, or whatever strikes your fancy.

Bakery Style Cheddar Cheese Bagels
makes 12

dough:

1 3/4 c. water
2 1/4 t. salt
3 T. sugar
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
3 c. white flour
3 t. yeast
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

for boiling:

3 quarts water
3 T. sugar
1 T. cornmeal

for baking:

1 egg white
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

This is a little complicated, so stick with me… Hopefully you have a bread machine. If so, place all of the dough ingredients into it and set it on the dough cycle. It should be VERY DRY dough. As dry as it can be and still be dough. You have to watch it and possibly add either more flour or more water in small amounts. If you DON’T have a bread machine, you will have to mix it as you would bread flour and it will be difficult because the dough is so dry.

After the cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and let it rest. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and shape. Usually I just make balls and forget about making a traditional bagel shape. If you have your heart set on bagels with a hole in the center, form a ball of dough and then poke your thumb through the middle and stretch it out a bit. Sprinkle some cornmeal onto a baking sheet or baking stone and set them on it to rise. Cover lightly with a towel. Let them rise for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

For the boiling step, put the water and sugar into a large pot and bring to a boil. At the same time, heat your oven to 375 degrees. When the water is ready, dip each bagel into the water for 1 minute - 30 seconds, flip, 30 more seconds. Remove to a wire rack to drain, then place it back onto the cookie sheet or baking stone.

Beat the egg white and brush the top of each bagel with it. Sprinkle a Tablespoon of cheese onto each top and then put them all in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. I usually rearrange them at 10 minutes - switch top to bottom and front to back. They should turn a nice golden-dark brown.

When they are done baking, cool again on the wire racks and then go ahead and split them and either eat them right away or put them in the freezer. Bagels have a reputation for molding quickly. (Probably due to that dip in sugar water.)

Well, if you can’t enjoy making them, at least ENJOY eating them and saving the bucks you coulda spent at the bakery!

Maybe it’s the cilantro in my refrigerator…

Maybe it’s the already-grilled strips of fajita-flavored chicken in my freezer…

Or the can of enchilada sauce in my pantry that I can’t remember buying…

But for some reason, I woke up this morning — a nasty, rainy, stormy, soggy day — just knowing that I should make this soup for our dinner tonight. Really, what’s better on a bad weather day than a good bowl of soup? Nothing, I say.

This is the kind of soup, similar to chili, that you just dump several different cans of ingredients into, add some prepared meat, and let simmer in the crock pot all day long. Strictly speaking, our supper was ready at lunchtime and I don’t have to do anything else before dinner. (I probably will, though, if you know me you will know that I won’t be able to resist making some cornbread or at least some fried tortilla strips to go with this. Also maybe some chopped lettuce and cilantro and a few toppings for the soup.)

Here’s what I threw into that crock pot:

Chipotle Chicken Enchilada Soup
serves 8 or more

3 c. chopped cooked chicken breasts
1 can chicken broth
1/2 c. water
1 can hominy, drained
1 can black beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can mild enchilada sauce
1 t. cumin
2 t. chipotle seasoning
1/4 t. black pepper
dash of red pepper
1/4 t. chili powder
1/2 t. salt

To start with, I will say that the chicken I used had been pre-spiced from the store. I do most things myself, but have not found the secret formula for preparing fajita meat, so I buy it that way. We had fajitas and this soup is especially designed to use the leftover meat.

So, dump the chicken into the crock pot. Then proceed by dumping all of the cans of stuff - chicken broth, water, hominy (or corn if you prefer), beans (black have the most fiber and are therefore the best for you), tomatoes, and enchilada sauce. Of course, feel free to add some green chilis, Tabasco, hot enchilada sauce, etc. Whatever you like is the rule here.

Next add the spices. Again, whatever suits your fancy and/or you have available in the pantry. To me, cumin is an essential spice for Mexican dishes.

Finally, stir it all up and forget about it until your tummy starts growling.

Possible toppings or sides:

Salad with fresh cilantro
shredded cheese
green onions
sauteed onions and peppers
fried tortilla strips
sour cream
salsa
queso
corn chips
cornbread

I got the idea for this recipe from the Tabasco people. We use the original Red Pepper sauce for Buffalo Wings. Lately, I’ve been buying the milder Green Jalapeño sauce for tacos and fajitas and such. Tucked into the box of the Red Pepper sauce was a coupon and a recipe for this dip.

Click below to visit the Tabasco website for recipes and so on:

Tabasco

However, when I made the dip, I wasn’t thrilled with the end result. The sauce has a lot of vinegar and therefore produced a “wangy” dip. I decided to try it with a fresh jalapeno instead of the sauce. This is not to say anything bad about Tabasco Sauce, as I like it really well and find lots of uses for it.

This is my version of this dip:

Creamy Cilantro Dip

2 c. sour cream
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 fresh jalapeño pepper
1 t. salt
1/4 t. cumin
1/4 t. minced garlic

First of all, carefully seed the pepper. People with sensitive skin will want to wear gloves for this operation, or be very careful not to get any of the pepper juice on your skin. Remove all of the white pithy part of the pepper and the seeds and stem, of course.

Decide how hot you want this dip to be. Personally, I would use about half or less of the pepper. Then rinse the cilantro and remove the longest part of the stems.

In a food chopper, finely chop the cilantro, the pepper, and the garlic.

Combine everything in a bowl and stir it well.

Serve with chips, corn chips, crackers, etc.

ENJOY!